Since a lot of women have started to call their female friends “girlfriends”, I have to wonder how women with actual girlfriends have been dealing with this lol

  • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I’m neither a lesbian nor a woman but the word “partner” is pretty universally understood.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “This is my wife” works real well

    For my girlfriend, I mostly just correct people if they’re mistaken. “Oh we’re more than just friends” type statements.

    Also fuck is the platonic use of girlfriend back? Dammit

    • southsamurai
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, hate to break it to you, but it isn’t even just women/girls using it for platonic friends. Men/boys are too.

      Not too surprisingly, that hasn’t happened with boyfriend that I’ve run across. Which is kinda fucked up when you consider what the difference in usage represents.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My grandma talks like that but in my area in my generation it’s generally understood that [gender]friend is romantic and friend isn’t. If gender is relevant it’s “the [genders]”

        That terminology is incredibly frustrating as a lesbian. Especially since it’s regularly used alongside calling my wife my friend despite me repeatedly referring to her as my wife

        • flicker@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I understand why this is frustrating and am not trying to take that from you, but thought you’d enjoy knowing that the last old lady who I confronted about calling my girlfriend as my girlfriend (in the platonic sense) was genuinely confused about my irritation, since “isn’t that the best part of having a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend? That they’re also your best friend? I always thought you two really got that part right.”

          It’s some arethestraightsokay stuff (and happened in like 2004) but I thought it might give you a smile.

        • SharkAttak@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I heard that violently frenching in front of them would clear any misunderstanding, nuance or misinterpretation.

          “Nope, Mildred, those ain’t gals pals, for sure”

            • Scubus
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              1 year ago

              Does a casual “nice” count as sexual harassment?

              • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                It definitely will make me feel uncomfortable shoeing romantic affection towards my partner in front of you in the future

                • Scubus
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                  1 year ago

                  Thanks for the input, honestly didnt expect a serious response.

                  I asked because my family is really weird. We’re very… open? Sexual jokes are very common 'round these parts

      • mnemonicmonkeys
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        1 year ago

        Personally I’ve only ever heard “platonic boyfriends” when it was platonic

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    “This person is my lover Karen”

    Just introduce them as your partner. Lesbians are so habitually entrenched in hiding their sexuality.

    I have so many pairs of “friends” come in appliance shopping. Gay men come in, it’s “This is my husband Mike”. Gay women come in and it’s like “This is my friend Paula. She helps me pick out appliances and definitely doesn’t live with me”.

    I don’t pry, because I’m just selling appliances. But it’s pretty obvious.

  • flicker@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    “Started?” Here in Tennessee we never stopped calling each other girlfriend.

    But as others said, “Partner.” I use it to talk about my boyfriend (since I’m a well-known demi person locally and the sex of whoever I’m with can be a massive question mark.)

    • grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Was gonna say, women calling each other “girlfriend” when they are in fact simply friends and not dating isn’t something new at all.

  • Mom Nom Mom@nom.mom
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    1 year ago

    Since a lot of women have started to call their female friends “girlfriends”

    This isn’t really a new thing, though… Is it? Or did I miss the era where we didn’t use “girlfriend” - at least sometimes - when talking about a female friend?

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I can tell you’re young because 30 years doesn’t seem recent to you.

          When I hear of a 70-year-old woman who’s been doing something for the last 30 years, I read that as a recent cultural change happened.

  • Ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    Since a lot of women have started to call their female friends “girlfriends

    That was the original meaning of the word before it ever had romantic connotations.

    From Wikipedia…

    According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest meaning of the word “girlfriend”, from 1859 on, was to designate “a female friend; esp. a woman’s close female friend”. In the late 1800s, it took on the meaning of “A female with whom a person has a romantic or sexual relationship”.

  • awnery@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    partner is a brilliant word about to made meaningless, apparently, so, love you all, friends, buddies, girlies, girlfriends, boyfriends, beards, compatriots and fellow travelers, fuck i’'m old I forgot a few dozen thousand.

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